The Air Force ran Thursday's launch from a static pad, which followed the Navy's August test from a mobile launcher.

The United States has test-launched a second missile banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which the Trump administration withdrew from earlier this year.

Launched at 8:30 a.m. local time from a pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the “prototype conventionally-configured ground-launched ballistic missile” flew more than 500 kilometers, and landed in the ocean, Lt. Col. Robert Carver, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an emailed statement.

“Data collected and lessons learned from this test will inform the Department of Defense’s development of future intermediate-range capabilities,” Carver wrote.

Thursday’s test comes two days after contractor Lockheed Martin said it “successfully tested its next-generation long-range missile designed for the U.S. Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program.” In that test, a missile was fired from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launcher at at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and “flew approximately 240 kilometers to the target area,” a Lockheed statement said. “All test objectives were achieved.”

Marcus Weisgerber is the global business editor for Defense One, where he writes about the intersection of business and national security. He has been covering defense and national security issues for more than a decade, previously as Pentagon correspondent for Defense News and chief editor of ...
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